Well, today is my last day in Japan and the Dai-X figure almost certainly isn't available yet. I'd never claim to know *all* the right places here, but I know quite a few and I haven't seen it anywhere at all, either new or second-hand. Theres a little out-of-the-way place in Akihabara under the tracks that seem to get all the new releases before anyone else and still had stuff on the shelves that most other retailers have either moved on or only have available used and *they* didn't have it...

"The power of bakers, the power of artists; even the power of witches! It must be a power given by God... sometimes we suffer for it."- Ursula, Kikis Delivery Service.

HLJ are very good. I've done a lot of business with them in the past.Kapow Toys that Vanessa put us onto is getting it later in the month.I'll order it from them when they get it.If it helps out someone in the UK a bit, then good.

I very briefly got to take it out of the box last night - word of warning, one foot has two very small guns mounted on them which are almost asking to be the first thing you'll break through careless handling.

"The power of bakers, the power of artists; even the power of witches! It must be a power given by God... sometimes we suffer for it."- Ursula, Kikis Delivery Service.

Okay, handled it a bit more today. A bit like the original Dai-X design itself, which sat in that odd period when Japanese mecha were transitioning from the "Super Robot" style pioneered by "Mazinger Z" to the more realistic "Real Robot" style made famous by - oh, go on, guess -this toy sits in a slightly odd space between an old-style mecha toy where the execution of the toy was more important than strict show accuracy and a modern "collectable" where accuracy to the source material is more important than playability, gimmicks, or even... fun.Thus we have a pretty good series-accurate representation of the Big Dai-X... but with huge magnetic ball joints on the limbs. These do give a good range of motion, especially to the arms, though the legs are a little more limited due to the design. And, yes, there IS a waist joint. It feels pretty lightweight straight out of the box, though theres some metal in there somewhere. Its a bit of a strange mixture of solid and fragile; the metal ball joints are attached to plastic, which is something that hasn't always ended well in other toys. Theres a couple of very small, very breakable-looking guns on one foot and likewise for the head antenna, and you may have to take a bit of care to make sure you don't scrape paint when moving limbs around. The paint really pops. I think its a bit darker than the inspiration, but it creates a striking impression on the shelf, though theres a few minor flaws here and there, mainly on a couple of white edging areas. I really dig the painted arrows on the fists. Somehow makes the thing look 'ard enough to have a go at Commander Makara.I haven't tried splitting the Dai-X up yet into its component vehicles, partly because a) I'm afraid to (experience with other high-end transforming toys has taught me caution) and b) I'm going to leave that until I have sufficient time to correct anything that might go wrong when I attempt it. So, is this the best Big Dai-X toy ever? Well, bearing in mind that I don't have the Jumbo Machinder version or the huge Combination box set, I'd have to say... hmm, I don't think so. My vote would go to the Takatoku Toys DX version, which is a solid brick of a toy that you can happily throw around when recreating classic "Star Fleet" space battles. Having said that, though, the supply of those is limited and will only get more limited. This one is overpriced, but then so are most modern Japanese toy releases these days. It is, in fact, a very worthy effort that might lack a little of the polish that a company like, say Bandai, would put into it, but it creates a great impression on a shelf. If you ever find yourself threatened by an army of ancient revived space tanks, it will do just fine fighting alongside your other Dai-Xs.

"The power of bakers, the power of artists; even the power of witches! It must be a power given by God... sometimes we suffer for it."- Ursula, Kikis Delivery Service.